hippiewikiaorg-20200214-history
Headband
and Pattie Boyd, with too many 60s fashion trends to list) visit Haight Ashbury, 1967. The African American woman with the triangular tambourine (WP), poncho (WP) (and possibly beads) wears a Guatemalan cloth (WP) headband (WP)]] Around the time of the Summer of Love of 1967, hippies began to wear headbands. Paisley (WP) bandanas could be easily obtained to twist or fold into headbands. Leather strips were harder to find. The advantages of headbands were many. They were stylish, which is something most writers tend to fixate on, leaving behind the practical considerations. First and foremost, they allowed, as they had women for centuries, free movement without long hair interfering with vision. Hippie activities were rarely performed seated with "good posture" or standing still; Frisbee (WP), dancing, leaning over to pass a joint, even lounging on one's side will tilt the hair over the eyes. And hippies engaging in the more energetic activities, in California or many other place's sunshine, could break a sweat easily. Headbands then, just as for the Aerobics (WP) participants of the 1980s, were at least as useful as they were fashionable. Bands soak or redirect sweat out of the eyes, regardless of hair length. Just as other hippie fashion was a melange of influences from many cultural styles, headbands hearkened to a synergy of dedication of Samurai warriors and Kamikaze soldiers with their Hachimaki headbands, and a similar dedication to the struggle of the Leftist activists and guerrillas. Practicality was again part of the reason for them, in mostly tropical climates. Korea's script is succinct enough that encouraging or inspiring phrases can be written on headbands, and contemporary Korean high school students don headbands in the style of the Hwarang Flower Knights before rigorous college entrance examinations, with phrases such as "do or die!" on their foreheads. A fashion trend seen during the 1960s and 70s was for headbands to be worn by many Acid rock, psychedelic rock, Glam rock, hard rock and heavy metal musicians and singers such as Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Keith Richards, Marc Bolan, Ted Nugent, Bruce Springsteen, or Link Wray for the same reasons, for the style, and to keep cool on stage. ' Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. It's difficult to find a picture of KR performing without a headband, these days]] The trouble with complex patterns such as Paisley and Tie dye as headbands is that there is so little width for the pattern to be seen, so the discerning hippie would favor something with extremely tight patterns or a simple design or none at all. American Indian beadwork (WP) is as tight as the beads are small; consequently beadwork headbands were relatively more popular than they were easy to obtain. Despite the fact that headbands, other than as a foundation for War bonnet feathered headdresses (WP) were somewhat rare among American Indians (WP), The Lone Ranger tv series showed its fictional Native American, Potawatomi Tonto, with a thin headband of what appears to be leather.The Straight Dope confirms the story about Kemosabe meaning scout, and adds to the story about Potawatomi indians saying Tonto meant "wild one"; they first called another Indian that, while George W. Trendle was present. So when Trendle asked the Potawatomi what it meant, they, out of pride, would not tell him the real, negative Spanish meaning, which he then gave to Kemosabe's faithful friend. Moral lesson of, "if you cover up the truth because of what other people might think of you, there might be unintended consequences", appears to remain unlearned. "The Lone Ranger" would have been still broadcasting when many hippies were children (up until 1957) and in reruns (WP) during the 60s, and hippies identified with and espoused the cause of American Indians and other non-Europeans by wearing what they perceived as their style; Love beads (WP) are another example. Sadly, the headband mostly gave way to the Pony tail or baseball cap as a means of hair control. Links Band Category:1980s fashion Category:2000s fashion Category:2010s fashion Category:1960s fashion Category:1970s fashion Category:Fashion Category:Native Americans in popular culture Category:War in popular culture Category:Interculturalism